Real Estate & Property Law

Northeast Pennsylvania Transmission Line

By Alan Ackerman

Scranton Times

PPL Electric Utilities is seeking state regulator approval to use eminent domain to acquire more than a dozen sections of right of way still needed for a proposed $510 million transmission line through Northeast Pennsylvania.

In eminent domain applications filed this week with the Public Utility Commission in Harrisburg, PPL said it has been unable to reach right-of-way and easement agreements with 14 property owners — seven in Lackawanna County, six in Wayne and one in Monroe — although negotiations continue.

“We will be very happy if we don’t have to go to court on any of these properties,” PPL spokesman Paul Wirth said Friday. “We hope to reach agreements with as many (property owners) as possible.”

PPL applied to the PUC earlier this month for permission to construct a 101-mile, 500-kilovolt line from its Susquehanna substation near Berwick to the Delaware River near Bushkill. The project is part of the proposed $1.2 billion Susquehanna-Roseland interstate power line.

It is not a surprise that there are fourteen owners contesting a take. For the most part, the utilities try to do it right. However, sometimes they just 'miss the mark' and do not understand the damage being done to the property. Then, the owners have to contest and object, facing the forced acquisition process.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).